Highways bosses have shed light on the scale of the operation to demolish a bridge that has carried motorists over the A50 in Uttoxeter for decades.

The 'old A50' bridge carrying the A522 over the main A50 dual carriageway has been taken down by an army of demolition machines between Friday and this morning.

Pedestrians gathered by the roadside to watch the spectacular sight of the 30-year-old structure being smashed to pieces and carried away.

Engineers worked round the clock from 8.30pm on Friday to 3.15am this morning, Monday, October 1, to ensure the A50 dual carriageway could reopen in time for the morning commutes.

This spectacular shot shows the silhouetted structure being taken down. (Image: Staffordshire County Council)

As well as demolishing the bridge, teams removed and repaired street lights and safety fences, as well as installing new draining systems.

Mark Winnington, Staffordshire County Council’s economic boss, said: "A lot of preparation went into this so that a major piece of work could be carried out in one weekend and it’s a credit to the team that the work has run to schedule.

A522 traffic heading out of town will be diverted through the Little Chef roundabout, onto the A50, then back onto the A522 via the new bridge, while those heading towards town will be diverted onto the A50 near the JCB World Parts Centre.

What is the A50 Growth Corridor Project?

The £40 million project is being delivered by Staffordshire County Council on behalf of Highways England - the Government's major road-building department.

Project A is designed to ease congestion and offer easy access to the the now-under-construction 700-home Bramshall Meadows housing development without traffic being driven through town.

As part of Project A, the "old A50" bridge carrying the A522 over the dual carriageway has been demolished and replaced with a new bridge.

When Project A is finished at the end of January, there will also be a new realigned stretch of the A522, three new roundabouts, new slip roads and link roads near the McDonald's roundabout.

A third lane was originally part of the plan for Project A, but that idea has now been shelved amid safety concerns.

Project B initially involved bulldozing the Little Chef and Derby Road roundabouts and replacing them with a flyover.

Under the original plans, three families were set to lose their homes and 37 businesses would be forced to give up land or their entire premises.

Access to the McDonald's and Derby Road service stations from the A50 would also have been crippled.

Project B is now being re-thought by Highways England.

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